Selling a house in Washington DC: local answers.

DC charges a deed transfer tax of 1.1% of the sale price under $400,000, and 1.45% at or above that threshold. Sellers customarily pay the transfer tax, while the buyer typically pays a separate recordation tax at the same rate. Confirm current rates with the DC Office of Tax and Revenue or your title company before closing.

By local custom, DC sellers usually pay the deed transfer tax and often a real estate commission if using an agent, while buyers typically cover the recordation tax and their own loan and title costs. All of this is negotiable in the contract, and an as-is cash sale often shifts more of these costs to the buyer.

A financed retail sale commonly takes 30-45 days to close after an accepted offer, on top of however long it takes to find a buyer. An as-is cash sale can close in as little as 1-3 weeks, or on whatever date the seller chooses, since there's no mortgage approval to wait on.

The DC Superior Court's Probate Division oversees estates. A personal representative must be appointed and issued Letters before they can sign a valid sale contract for the estate. Small or simple estates may qualify for a shortened process; check directly with the Probate Division for your specific case.

DC requires a mediation election notice to owner-occupants before most foreclosures can proceed, administered through the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking (DISB). If mediation is elected, a foreclosure sale generally cannot happen until that process concludes, giving homeowners real time to pursue alternatives with their servicer.

DC's Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) generally requires landlords to offer tenants the right of first refusal before selling certain rental properties. This adds a required notice step that any DC rental sale needs to account for from the start, even if the tenants ultimately decline to buy.

Yes, if the house was built before 1978. Federal law (the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act) requires sellers nationwide, including in DC, to disclose known lead-based paint hazards and provide an EPA pamphlet to buyers before the sale.

Selling as-is means the buyer accepts the property's current condition and you're not obligated to make repairs, but it doesn't remove the duty to disclose known material defects you're aware of. Active concealment of a known problem can create legal exposure even in an as-is sale.

Most cash buyers start from the home's estimated after-repair value, then subtract estimated repair costs, holding costs (taxes, insurance, utilities during the resale period), closing costs, and their margin. Ask any buyer to walk through that math in writing so you can compare it against a retail listing.

Watch for unlicensed operators pressuring a signature within hours, anyone asking for an upfront fee before making an offer, and deed-theft schemes that specifically target elderly homeowners and heirs of inherited property. A legitimate buyer puts the offer and their role in writing and never asks you to pay to get an offer.

The DC Homestead Deduction reduces the taxable assessed value for an owner-occupied primary residence. It affects your property tax bill up to closing (prorated between buyer and seller) but ends once you're no longer the owner-occupant, so it doesn't carry forward after the sale.

If DC's Office of Tax and Revenue has classified the property as vacant (Class 3) or blighted (Class 4), the tax rate is substantially higher than standard residential rates. Any unpaid balance from that higher rate is typically settled at closing, which can meaningfully reduce net proceeds if the classification wasn't corrected beforehand.

DC does not universally require an attorney to handle a residential closing the way some states do, and many sales close through a title company or settlement agent alone. That said, an attorney is worth involving for probate estates, disputed title, or any situation that isn't a straightforward single-owner sale.

Open violations from DC's Department of Buildings (formerly DCRA) run with the property and show up in a title and permit history search. They don't have to be cleared before selling as-is — many cash buyers purchase properties with open violations and address them after closing, with outstanding fines typically settled from sale proceeds.